`BASEBALL PALACE' NO LONGER: COMISKEY PARK ERA CLOSES

Eight decades of tradition ended at Comiskey Park Sunday when the Chicago White Sox beat the Seattle Mariners 2-1 in the final game there.

The park, named after team founder Charles Comiskey, opened on July 1, 1910, as the Baseball Palace of the World. The White Sox marked the occasion by losing to St. Louis 2-0.The 1917 season with "Shoeless" Joe Jackson marked the team's greatest season, but the Black Sox scandal of 1919 sent the franchise into a lengthy tailspin.

The South Side ballpark hosted the first All-Star Game in 1933, and the midsummer classic returned 50 years later for its golden anniversary. The White Sox ended a 40-year pennant drought in 1959 and also captured the AL West in 1983.

The memory of Julio Cruz, swarmed by his teammates as he hopped on home plate with the winning run in the 1983 clincher, lingers in the minds of many White Sox fans.

The 1990 season added to the list of Comiskey's great memories. The White Sox battled Oakland atop the AL West into September before the Athletics pulled away.

Home attendance surpassed the two million mark for the third-best crowd figure in club history. Carlton Fisk became the all-time home run leader among catchers.

Andy Hawkins of the Yankees hurled a no-hitter and lost 4-0. Bobby Thigpen set a major-league record for saves; he extended it to 57 Sunday. Chicago and Texas sat out a record 7 1/2 hour rain delay. And the White Sox returned to their 1917 World Series championship season with "Turn Back the Clock" day.

The site of the old stadium will become a parking lot, with a memorial around home plate.